A Broken World 'redone'
by Kimra
Summary: Thirty years ago the world was broken and evil took control. Those still alive struggled for survival, but survival is no longer enough. She is the last hope. But can a powerless Usagi find a way to heal the damage or is it already too great?
1. One

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Sailor Moon.

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**A Broken World**

**(thrid draft)**

By Kimra

**Part One**

She twisted in her sleep, trying to find that perfect spot on the over heated bed. The weather had never returned after the cataclysm, and the air had forever been a thick hot sludge that pooled around you until you couldn't move. She was used to it, of course, fifteen years gave you an acceptance and adaptation to the environment around you that made it possible to function in. Besides she had never known the weather before the breaking of the world she had only heard tales of it so there was no comparison to make.

Some nights long ago she dreamt of the clean water that fell from the sky and engulfed the world, washing away the stains of blood that had long lingered on it's surface. But they where dreams she couldn't have anymore.

She flipped onto her back with a groan, staring at the patterns of peeling paint across her roof. Sweat trickled and collected down her sides, across her brow, between her thighs, at the arch of her back, and at every joint in her body. A groan of resentment escaped and she kicked the sheet off her body. Usually she clung to the security of it, but today she had no energy to waste on fear or worry, all she could do was prey for the sleep that still refused to take hold of her tired and aching head.

The pure need for rest began to weigh over her stubborn body's need to cool down, and fingers of sleep began to pull her into the dream realm. She surrendered to its thrall.

Abruptly noise blared, shaking the walls around her, and waking the mind that was shutting down. Her body jerked up, the dagger below her pillow in her grip without a conscious thought to retrieve it. Tired and weary eyes jumped about the room ready to find the carrier of danger. The noise pulsed on, not in her room, beyond and tired ears began to notice the patterns in the sound as she tried to decipher it's origin.

Time was slowed by the adrenaline her body had pushed through her at the intrusion to her sleep, so what took her mind too long to figure out was mere seconds of reality and then she was aware it was music that had woken her. Another second and she knew the source of the music was near, beyond her door, not beyond her home.

Her breathing calmed as the reassurance that immediate danger was not present penetrated her tired yet alert mind. Then she realised with anger that the adrenaline that had just pushed through her system would take hours to wear away and the sleep that had been so close had just been stolen from her. A scream shuddered in her mind, her throat ready to voice it, caution held it back and she grabbed up a pillow squashing her face below it, mocking the very action she wanted to take as she almost noiselessly released her frustration.

When breath was gone from her lungs she threw the pillow to her door, waiting for the noise on the other side to stop of quieten, another problem penetrating the fog of her awareness. The noise was still there, the music was still playing.

Another scream lingered, she glared at the door, trying to silence the noise by pushing her anger towards and through the door but the action was pointless and did nothing to appease to frazzled mind.

A voice penetrated the pulsating rhythms of music that threatened to drown her ear drums, it was female and recognisable. "Are you crazy! Turn that off!" Usagi knew the voice as Alina's a girl two years her senior in body and ten years her junior in mind.

The music stopped and Usagi threw herself back against the bed releasing the anger that had begun to well in her chest. Silence settled back into her bones, the adrenaline still mindlessly demanding action be taken her heart still beating a fast rhythm that the rest of her body throbbed with. She tried to force calm back into herself.

Alina's voice disturbed her attempts at peace. "Hey Usagi! You awake yet?"

Usagi's body jerked back up into a sitting position her fist's clenched her head pounding with a headache that wanted to overwhelm her. And she screamed her response at the door with no regard to who could hear and what the repercussions where. "What?" Anger flushed through her body and the adrenaline took triumphant hold of her sense's waking her another notch. Silence met her scream and the anger began to double in upon itself. She breathed deep through her nose, trying to keep the calm but with each passing second of silence she felt control slip. "What?" She shouted at the door again. The silence that greeted her second demand for a response overpowered rationality. She jumped to her feet, naked, not caring as she flung her bed room door open and stormed into the lounge room.

Alina was white, her features shocked and fearful, the man by her side, the newest person to take sanctuary in the house looked casual and unaffected. Usagi reeled in the anger and glared at Alina, choosing to ignore the man's leering expression and a little angry she had left her dagger on the bed in a moment of thoughtlessness.

This time when she asked her voice was smooth with the control she exerted over it but it did not seem to reassure the skinny girl before her. "What?" She was aware her voice had those deadly undercurrent suppressed rage made but had no care to try and hide them, she was angry and she didn't care if the world knew about it.

Alina wet her lips and flicked her glance to the new man. Then began to stutter, "I was wondering if you told Ric the rules yesterday."

Usagi forced the name into her memory, Ric wasn't going to last long, she could tell from the music stunt, but it never bode well for you if you didn't memorise the information at hand. At the same time she stared at the girl she had only known for a few months, and as carefully and forcefully as she could replied to the question. "It's, not, my, job." She punctuated each word with a breath and a spark of anger, forcing the girl to accept and remember what she was saying. "It's-" She waved her hand at the leering man "-Jasmine's friend, it's Jasmine's job."

And with that she turned from the two and disappeared once more into her room, slamming and locking the door behind her, letting her anger into each move she made in the hope of seeping it out of her soul.

*****

Usagi rolled her head back on her shoulders, letting the noise of the tavern filter through her hearing and merge into a mindless blur that pulsed against her temples in time with her migraine. As a single entity, migraine and crowd became bearable and she was free to watch and scrutinize the taverns patrons with more alacrity.

This was her third home, if you where allowed to have three homes. She felt no comfort, no safety, but familiarity bleed from every grain of the building that surrounding her.

At the counter Wade gave her a quick salute acknowledging for the first time in the hour her presence in his bar. She returned a quick head-nod jarring the migraine back into a separate rhythm. She raised a finger to her head and she forced the pain back to where it was manageable. Her hand dropped back to the table.

With a sigh she lent back in her chair, eyes jumping through the bawdy and rough crowd. These where the people she lived by, these where the people she faced every day and the people she hated. One the other side of the tavern someone fell to the ground, blood pooled out from the body across the floor, no-one paused and her eyes barely lingered on the prone figure.

A glass settled before her, Wade standing behind it with a pleased expression. She flicked a quick smile at him, wondering if one day he would take by force what she refused to give willingly. There were no rules, there where no laws. Not really. And no one would care if he took her without consent, and there was no one left to take vengeance.

She took the glass and raised it to her lips, watching the brown haired bar tender retreat to his place in the universe, then sipped at the searing liquid. It burnt a path down her throat to her belly, sitting rebelliously with the quick meal she had taken before coming. The glass went back to the table, she released it, not sure if her stomach would keep it's control.

Something as simple as throwing up could kill her, she remembered a time, too long ago now to be anything but dreams, when she had not been so afraid of the world. Once she had even loved it.

A pair of gloves slapped against her table, a body following them and taking the seat opposite her. Mentally she tested for the cold press of metal against her ankle and wrist, then the familiar straps about her leg where she kept her exposed blade. Meanwhile a smile slipped to her lips, not a nice smile, but a business smile.

The man who sat opposite her was dressed well, pre-cataclysm clothes, the stitching was perfect the fit undeniable. She re-evaluated, they where made well but for him, they where new but made with a skill she hadn't seen on any of the middle city streets. He was rich then, and from the beyond of the Inner City, she hoped for the former.

"Yes?" She picked her glass up again taking a small cautious sip, still examining him over the brim. His hair was shoulder length, cut perfectly, by a slave she guessed. His eyes where an elusive green that seemed content to remain expressionless as they evaluated her.

"I'm looking for a Seeker." His voice was smooth, and quite enough to reach her and no one else.

She took the cup from her lips and raised her left eye brow at him, keeping her expression neutral. "Seeking's illegal." She told him her voice matter-of-fact.

"So I'm told." His voice was dry then he gave her a smile to disarm and her guard jumped higher, she checked once more that her weapons where in place.

She rubbed her chin with her left hand, right hand delivering the cup to it's resting place on the table. "I don't think there are any Seekers around these parts." A brash hand movement towards the crowd and his eyes never left hers. She brought her hand below the table and fisted it. He was too focused, and she did not like being the sole object of anyone's attention.

"There's a Seeker in every Outer Region. I've been told there are at least six around old Tokyo."

Gods she hated her heart, because it jumped into overdrive as his words filtered past the throbbing noise and into her brain. She told herself to calm but her nails begun to dig into her palm her fist tightening. "I've heard no such rumour." She managed a half smile, more friendly then before and forced herself to look away from him. It was an attempt to look less focused then she was, it was an attempt he wasn't bothering to make as his eyes bored into her. "There was a Seeker here-" She looked back to him, her smile larger now "-about five moons ago, they say she could find anything."

He lent against the table towards her, the look in his eyes told her he knew the game she was playing but she refused to budge to the worry that wormed through her. "And where is she now?" His voice was low, harder for others to hear.

She met the unspoken challenge and lent in towards him, her smile slipped into coy shyness as she held his eyes. Then abruptly she broke the stance, lent back into her chair and let her smile fade completely. "She went away. Nobody knows where."

"Maybe she died in the Inner City." He sounded like he was trying to be helpful, the glint in his eyes denied the possibility.

"Maybe she died in the Outer Regions. It doesn't matter where you are, every where's just as deadly."

"Well, if you happen to see her, alive, of course. Then you might tell this prodigy Seeker that I'm in need of her services."

"It's not good to be in need of anything." She drawled uncaringly. It didn't bother her if he displayed weakness, it was in fact better for her. "What kind of thing do you need?" She gave him an obviously fake smile, the game was easy enough to play and he knew she was playing. "In case I see her."

"The kind of thing that would be strictly between me and the Seeker." He was giving away hints of annoyance, and she became amused. Obviously he didn't like the game very much.

"Not afraid the Hunters will cut your gut for breaking one of their laws?"

He met her eyes firmly. "If she's not afraid, then neither am I."

She tried not to choke at the display of over bravado impressed now by nothing but the man's stupidity.

"Besides, the man at the door told me if I was after a Seeker you'd be the way to go. 'Can find anything' he said."

"He wouldn't know the difference between his mother and his whore. So I wouldn't give much credit to anything he had to say, if I where you." She clicked the bones in her neck as she rolled her head, wishing she had gotten more sleep the night before but dreams had a way of depriving her of the things she needed.

"So you can't find anything?" He smirked and she nearly laughed at the blatant trap. If she hadn't been feeling so ill she wouldn't have humoured him and let him think he was winning the silent debate, as it was she really didn't care that much.

"Lets talk about this somewhere a little less public." As she stood from the chair she became away of something her tired brain hadn't yet taken into account. There was someone else in the bar who had taken an interest in their conversation. She flicked her attention about the room, searching, as the man before her stood. She found the focused attention of two men on their discussion, both of the men where in different places in the bar, places she considered fairly strategic.

Testing she let her hand drop to the hilt of her blade and watched as the two men moved as one and began towards her defensively. They weren't so obvious that it would be noticed unless you where paying keen attention and she cursed herself as she released the blade and sat back in her seat for not paying enough attention.

Before her the mans he had been speaking with stood looking puzzled. "I thought we were going somewhere privet."

She waved her hand vaguely her attention focused now on the three men who where all part of this deal. "I changed my mind." She tried to sound lofty, didn't want him to realise that his friends had been spotted. "Why don't we discuss it right here, unless the noise bothers you. And if that's the case we just wont discuss it."

Her heart was beating fast again, he had given it away when he had called the Inner City 'old Tokyo' but she hadn't paid too much attention. Sometimes, rarely, a person his age would call it that, but it was a habit that belonged to the generation who had experienced the cataclysm directly. Names for cities weren't necessary now, you didn't travel, you didn't explore not if you wanted to survive. The only people who used the names where the people who travelled and that meant Hunters. That he had two men guarding his back hidden in the chaos of Wade's bar only further proved the accusation. Only a hunter would hide his guard, only a Hunter could afford a guard.

Now sat before her a Hunter asking her to do a job that his kind had outlawed. The Inner Cities all belonged to the Hunters and the Youma's. The humans who had allied themselves with the Beast who destroyed the world, who sold their souls for the power it would give them they where the Hunters. And the only things worth Seeking where in the Inner Cities, so her entire profession was to invade their territory. That he was sitting there, asking for her help scared her nearly senseless. There was no way this confrontation would end well. Even if she found what he wanted he would probably kill her.

"What do you need?" She emphasised the word as she stared at him, her hand resting on the blade handle below the table. She felt the other two men draw closer, aware of her actions even from a distance. The man before her however appeared ignorant.

"I need to find a person." His voice was stone, his expression unmoving. She forced breath into her lungs as she stared into his passive eyes. Her heart rate picked up pace again, her stomach tightening into painful knots.

"I'm not really into people." She forced herself to say, trying to back away from the whole thing as calmly as possible.

"You'd be well compensated. Better compensated then you have been for any of your past jobs." He was trying to be persuasive and all she could do was try and get herself to calm down.

"I'm not a mercenary." She hissed, unable to hide the anger without displaying the fear.

"No one's asking you to kill him. Just find him for us." He sounded smooth, calm. This was why he was here, which mean it was a mission a task set for him by the higher powers. The chances of survival if she accepted or rejected the offer where beginning to dwindle. She could take it, she guessed she would survive if she was willing to continue to do their bidding, but that would do little but make her a Hunter herself and she still had some morals that would refuse any such action.

"And how'd you lose him?" She mocked, still trying desperately to think of a way out of this man's control.

"That's classified." He replied. If she hadn't known already that one word would have given him away as a Hunter. The rest of the world had no use for classification when it was having a hard enough time simply surviving.

She let out a shaky breath and stared fiercely at him. "I'm not a mercenary."

"I just want to find my brother. What's mercenary about that?" He put on an innocently puzzled expression.

"Listen." She hissed at him sternly. "If your brothers missing, his dead." She paused for emphasise then stood from her seat. He made a grab at her arm to detain her escape and she responded with violence. She drew the blade on her thigh out and spun around slicing his arm swiftly and making him release her.

Nothing in the pub paused as the Hunter yanked his arm away trying to cover the wound, shocked eyes fixed on her. The two men who had been stationary where moving fast and she sent a pray to what ever gods where left in this forsaken world before rallying her courage.

"I don't deal with Hunters." She shouted it, and a wave of silence settled over the tavern, eyes fixing on her and the Hunter. Nothing moved or breathed and she gave him a quick smile. "And you can tell that to your two friends over there if you like." She nodded at the two men, singling them out for the crowd as well.

Calmly she picked her bag up, slung it over her body and walked to the door, the thud of her boots on the dirt floor resounding through the silent room. She didn't pause in the door way or flinch when noise once more began in the tavern. She knew with a certainty that was born from knowledge that it would take less then a minute before the three hunters met their deaths. Nobody liked the hunters, but that particular crowd, she knew, had a powerful hatred for them.

Letting out a shaky breath she began her trek home wanting to be safe in case the hunters did manage to survive the melee.

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I was really discontent with the whole tone of the previous draft. If you think this draft is worse or better please tell me and I'll work it out. I much much happier with this now. But as I said, the judgement lies with the readers.

Kimra


	2. Two

A Broken World (redone)

By Kimra

Chapter Two

o o

dbooooooodb

o o

Usagi lay against the tiled floor, splaying her flesh against the only cool surface she could find. The wash room was not where she usually went to find sleep, but the daylight heat had infiltrated her home and infected her body. In desperation she had crawled into the tiled room willing to use anything to gain even a moments rest.

Her head was pulsing, her body shaking, and a tick in her neck seemed determined to drive her insane. She released a groan and tried to resettle her body. Confrontations with hunters aside sleep was her largest problem, and it continued to elude her. She had liked it better when sleep had been a straight forward process, when she would close her eyes, drift into oblivion and only have to worry about someone slitting her throat while her guard was down. It had been two years since anything was that simple.

A flicker of darkness and she knew the dream was calling.

She released a sharp breath, wishing the dream away, trying to call the sleep. It was useless, it always was but nothing could stop her from trying.

Unbidden her body relaxed, her headache receded and anything that was light faded into nothing, leaving only the soft red glow of a long dead friend.

o o

dbooooooodb

o o

She woke quickly, jerked from haunting dreams.

Her body was sticky, her head dizzy, the texture below her felt smooth but it was that surface she was stuck too. She remembered going to sleep, knew she was on her wash room floor and let out a breath of frustrated air.

It wasn't sleep, it couldn't be, it never lasted long enough, never left her feeling rested or at ease, but it was all her body and mind where willing to give her.

Peeling herself off the floor Usagi cringed, at least the bed never glued her down like the tiles where trying to. The disgusting feel of sweet across her body was ignored as she got to her shaky feet. She wouldn't be able to close her eyes for another day at least.

o o

dbooooooodb

o o

Usagi rubbed her eyes with the palm of her hand. Sleep wanted her, or she wanted it she could never tell which way it went. But sleep was also beyond her, another hot day, another world of nothing with no way to find the sleep she so craved.

The pub was calm as it often was during the day time. A man she didn't recognise behind the counter which was just as well since Wade was going to kill her for starting a brawl during his shift.

She lent her head back against the wall, trying to decide what had to happen today. She hadn't been offered a job for some time and wouldn't be for a few weeks still because no body wanted a Seeker who had been spotted by the Hunters. It was bad for business but she didn't care, she was alive and that was what mattered most.

"Hey Rabbit!" A sultry voice called and she cracked her tired eyes open to see Miranda approaching. Usagi settled herself for the meeting, knowing it was unavoidable.

"Miranda." She replied as the woman took the seat opposite her.

"Wade's furious." The woman warned her and Usagi shrugged. Wade would get over it the second he remembered that she was a girl and he might one day convince her to put out for him.

"Yeah well, I'm alive. I win."

The woman didn't laugh, which was a shame instead she was silent for a long time, long enough that Usagi opened her eyes to see the pink edged eyes watching her thoughtfully. "The offer still stands little Rabbit. You can't live a Seekers life forever." She was trying to help and Usagi could hear it. Compassion in her voice and honest concern in her actions but all the same Usagi hated the offer.

"No thank you." She bit out disgusted by the idea. She would rather die in the Inner City battling a monstrous Youma then take up such an offer.

"Okay sweetie, I'm not going to force you." Miranda replied a soft smile on her painted lips and Usagi felt guilt for her hard response.

"What brings you over here?" She asked trying to ease them back onto the ground they had been on before.

"I have a message for you."

"Work?" Excitement jumped through her but she didn't jump up like she wanted to instead she did everything leisurely, keeping her pace set and her eyes fixed on their surroundings.

"Not exactly. I've been asking around for you-" the woman began.

Usagi's breath caught at the words. Miranda knew how to find information it was a trick she had that Usagi had never seen equalled so she had asked the woman to ask around for something particular.

"There's a man, thinks he has what you want."

Usagi's hands where shaking as she listened, her body not far behind it as she tried to keep herself still tried to keep it all in.

"Gave me a time and date. Say's if your not there you've lost your chance."

Usagi liked her lips, meeting the woman's eyes. "How trustworthy is this?" She pleaded, not even capable of hiding her emotion from this woman.

"Why do you need to make yourself sleep?" the woman countered. Usagi's expression hardened, her answer gone with it and Miranda saw it because instead of waiting for a reply she gave her own. "It seems secure and I've heard of his services before but things like this-" she shook her head "-I wouldn't trust anyone."

Usagi disagreed with that, because for things like this she had to trust people or she'd be stuck forever in the limbo she seemed to be living. Sleep was the furthest thing from her grasp and the only thing she still craved in this life. And this man, whoever he was claimed he had the information she needed.

"Tell me everything." Usagi demanded of the woman and in reply the woman told her exactly what she needed to know.

o o

dbooooooodb

o o

Usagi walked ankle deep through the sludge the inhabitants of the Outer Regions called water. She was sure, somewhere beneath the thick layer of oil, dirt and other grim there was water, but she doubted it was at all drinkable. When she had become a snob she wasn't sure because there had been a time when she was living in the Beyond when she wouldn't have thought twice about drinking the muck she now trudged through.

"Pretty girlie!" A voice taunted from one of the observers on the shore. Usagi didn't even glance in the direction of the slurred high pitched voice. Fallen buildings, hollow tree's and garbage piles littered the shore making anyone hiding among the rubble virtually invisible. She did watch through the corner of her eye as she continued to walk, noting the movements made to her left.

There where people in there, ones she had never seen, would never see and didn't want to see. A few times she'd been attacked on this path, but mostly these people who lived on the border of the Inner and Outer Cities left you alone.

The shore to the right was clear of most rubble at first with a steady incline that she knew from experience lead to where she was going, the Inner Cities.

Her foot caught in her distraction, breaking her concentration and she flung her arms out before her, catching her body before her head could become submerged. She was glad she was moving about the edge of the river because any deeper and she wouldn't have been able to prevent submersion and although the idea of the water on her face was sickening the current of the river could have been strong enough to pull her along.

For a second she stared at the gunk only centimetres from her face, she stared at the murky patterns traced in the oily surface for a long time. Barely hearing the ruff laughing of her proclaimed observer. There was something familiar about the way the patterns of oil shifted every time she breathed, something that kept her transfixed. Despite her protests her mind began to travel.

_She stared at the liquid surface barely a breath from her face wondering if she had the strength to continue or if she should let her head drop into the grime._

"_Usagi! Get up!" Soft hands grabbed her bare shoulder, tugging her into movement. She stumbled onto her feet responding to the girls plea, her body weak and trembling. It was the desperate look in those violet eyes that made her take the next few steps, it was a look that she would always remember._

"_Sorry." She mumbled, her voice thick with the weariness of her body. Fleetingly she wondered if they had done the right thing. She'd never heard of anyone escaping before._

Usagi jerked herself out of memories, pushing against the slimy surface below her and stood shakily. For a moment she stared at nothing, the memories preparing to flick back into motion when she shook her head forcing them away.

"Little girlie fell over." The observer taunted, his laughing voice reverberating off the incline of the opposite bank. Growling low in her throat she continued to walk making a mental note to avoid this path way for a few weeks in case he was a permanent resident. If she was lucky he'd be dead the next time she passed through.

It took more then an hour to find the path she was after. Her feet moving from the slimy dirt beneath the water to the slippery cement surface she had been searching for.

Like any seeker she knew most the entry's to the Inner City, she had mapped most of them in her head, from experience and from her tutors descriptions. So there where some she had never bothered to try, mostly because they would put her in the centre of the Inner City and even she wasn't that daring.

Slowly she moved her feet along the cement below her, crossing the gashing river. She had never tested it, although she had seen some idiots do so, but the river dividing the Outer Regions from the Inner City had currents strong enough to drown even the strongest person. So she relied on the bridges as those foolish enough to cross the river called them. Slabs of cement that stretched across the river, just below the surface. No one knew why they where there, or what purpose they where meant to serve but it didn't stop people like her from using them.

As she reached the other side she heard a snicker from the man who hadn't stopped watching her. The snicker nearly prompted her to turn back around, find who ever he was and stab him repetitively with her blade. She even fingered the hilt in thought then shrugged the idea away. She had a specific purpose this trip and she couldn't be late.

o o

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o o

"Your late." Usagi disparaged as she stared at the new comer. She had been waiting four hours, four hours when she could have been sleeping or at least working.

"You want the information or not?" The man sneered in response as he turned to find her glowering at him. He was handsome, no question about it, with a jaded personality she could read in his eyes. She wanted nothing to do with him but everything to do with what he could give her.

"You have it?" She tried to suppress the urgency in her voice and managed with more skill then she suspected she had. Waiting had done little more then give her time to think, and as always thinking was not something she had wanted to do. The tips of her fingers tingled with nerves, her stomach cramping. She reminded herself to remain on guard, she hadn't spent this long keeping herself alive to give this man a chance to kill her.

"I might." He replied, looking around the broken room quietly. There was nothing around, she didn't even know why he had bothered with the move, but guessed he wasn't used to the solitude of the Inner City. Moths played inside her stomach making her glad she hadn't eaten at the pub earlier, the only positive thing about the hunters encounter. "Are we alone?" She noted his tense shoulders, the poise he kept that looked casual though was far to alert to be so.

"I'm always alone." She replied, her voice dropping a little too much. She wanted to cringe at the tone, wondering if he could hear exactly what she meant and praying he couldn't.

"Good." He took a step towards her and she didn't retreat, he was larger then her, with about twenty years more on his age but she was still not intimidated after all she had a knife that she'd stuck into over a hundred Youma's and more strength then anyone would guess for a girl her size.

She wanted to repeat her question, but was afraid to sound anxious, so she let the silence ebb into every pore of the area, waiting for him to crumble to the silence. It took a surprisingly short amount of time before he surrendered.

"Yeah… I've got it." He murmured reaching into his dirty brown jacket and withdrawing a small pile of papers. "Not much good though, you'd have to go in deep to get these baby's."

She snatched the papers from his hand, scanning them quickly and expertly. If there was one thing her mother had done properly, it was teaching her to read. A breath she was not aware she was holding released as she found what she was looking for on the pages.

"Perfect." She breathed in awe. Her mind sent a silent pray to what ever governed the universe in thanks.

"So." His smile twisted as he stared at her, but she was still watching him despite the papers thrall. "Are you sure where alone?" He took another step towards her, and she looked up at him reproachfully.

"Yes." She replied calmly, staring into his eyes, not hiding her aggravated response to his suggestive tone. He took the hint better then most men did, taking the step back again. She didn't smirk, there was no need to antagonise the man when he was smart enough to back off.

"Do I see the other half?" He eyed the papers possessively until he saw the small bag flying at him. He caught it quickly stunned for a moment before he noticed she had turned her attention back to the papers and away from him. Fingering the projectile he felt solid metal and untying the string he grinned childishly.

"I think we're done." Usagi told him, and before he could respond or even close his gapping jaw she had slid into the shadows and disappeared.

She waited just out of his sight, watching him until he turned for the closest pathway across the river. The river curved, meeting the harbour at both ends to completely segregate the Inner City. It was good that way, you couldn't stumble onto one without knowing exactly what you where getting yourself into. In fact most the time, unless you knew how, you couldn't pass from one to another regardless.

She followed him for only long enough to be certain he was on his way. Crawling silently about the concrete and brick rubble. He had arranged the meeting place, though she wasn't sure why someone as elite as he would want to meet within the City Limits. Then again the information she had requested wasn't entirely legal and even she could understand the need for discretion.

With him gone she reread the sheets of paper before her, memorising what had to be known, she didn't want to spend long that deep in the Inner City so she needed to know exactly what she was looking for. This time though, this time would be different, she would not leave until she had what she wanted.

Resolved she began her travels through the ruins of Old Tokyo.

o o

dbooooooodb

o o

Usagi silently fiddled with her newly acquired tablets. They where guaranteed to make her sleep without dreams.

She paused, the tablets she had been rolling around between her fingers stopping as she contemplated her door. It was far too early for the others to be in the house, still she had heard something. She turned her attention from the door shrugging her shoulders absently. The movement jolted her back sharply forcing her to cringe, she had cramped the muscles the night before while sleeping in an awkward spot in the City Limits. A week of searching however and she had her beloved tablets.

Another call sounded from beyond her door and she paused once more. The thin feel of familiarity would have been ignored if her mood had not been so passive. She turned her eyes back towards her door.

Futilely she wondered if it was Rei, but the booted sound of feet as they softly made their way closer removed the thought. Rei had an obsession with going everywhere barefoot, or in the least in high heals, she had claimed to have an aversion to anything that covered her feet too much. They where certainly boots she could hear.

Tentatively she stood from the edge of her bed, eyeing the door suspiciously. She wasn't entirely certain she wasn't hearing things, so when the distinct sound of someone calling out came again she jumped. With her attention attuned to the sound she could not deny it was real.

Her first response was to clutch her tablets to her chest, the information needed to get them had cost a lot of money, the week she had spent searching in the Inner City was nothing compared to the year she had spent trying to learn about them. Besides they where a highly sought after drug which she knew many would not scruple to kill for, they where illegal but she would do anything to free herself of the dreams.

When the call came again, louder but still not distinguishable she moved quickly, reaching under her bed for the hidden clip. She tugged sharply on the hidden doors latch pulling it open. Slipping the tablets in as she closed it, her body shaking with the need to be faster. If the voice was danger, or friend she did not even think on, all she knew was she had to hurry.

The second the secret compartment was securely latched she lunged for her bedroom door, pulling it open with enough force to tug at her forearm muscles. Bitting her lip and cursing her stupidity she dove into the lounge room only to find it completely empty.

She stilled herself listening intently although there where few rooms the voice could have come from. Her heartbeat offered the most resistance to the calm as she looked about the empty room.

"Hello?" Usagi whispered into the room with uncertainty, her door behind her still unlatched the best retreat she could offer herself. The silence that met her tentative whisper made her shake with uncertainty. "Hello?" She called with a little more volume. It was comforting that there was no one there, but it unsettled her because she had been certain of someone else's presence. The unnerving mixture of thoughts and feelings raised her to a point of angered determination.

"Who's there?" Her voice mirrored her emotions, ringing clear through the room and travelling beyond.

"Usagi?" A faint male voice echoed in response. His voice was in her memory although it was a voice she had thought long gone. Unlike the others, just gone. Even before her mind had registered who she was responding to she was pushing the large stone door open and stumbling up the slanted tunnel.

"Mamoru?" She called softly, her heart thundering least it be a trap. She had several enemies who would like to know where she lived, and several who probably where getting closer to finding it out.

When she saw his crumbled body on the floor of the tunnel she raced to his side, turning him over, feeling the sticky blood on his shoulder as she did. "What happened?" She asked, trying to sound peevish. He'd been gone for two years, two years and she had no idea where he had been, but that was nothing to having him arrive bleeding at her doorstep.

_Okay, his doorstep._ She admitted ruffled and annoyed by the thought. Mamoru had found the place long before she ever arrived.

"Hey, your hairs red." He made an expression of disgust at her hair, and she was tempted to slap him for it. He had nerve, lying on the floor bleeding and insulting her hair. Instead she forced her hands to be more aggressive as they moved his shirt away from his shoulder, normally she would have tried to be tender, even though they had rarely gotten along.

"Imagine!" She declared in a conspiratorial whisper, there was no telling if he was being followed, the wounds where fresh. "I was hoping for purple." He chuckled lightly keeping his voice low, the laugh encouraged her that he was not going to die in the next few seconds. "Can you walk?" Usagi asked as she prodded the wound a little. He flinched outright, his eyes darkening at her. Seeing the expression she shrugged. "I could drag you, but you'd rather walk, right?" She leaned in and stared into his eyes, wondering if he had lost too much blood to think straight. She waited her nose almost pressing against his as she attempted to see his expression in the dim light the tunnel provided. He blinked at her and she took it as a yes, it probably wasn't but she took it that way anyway. Roughly she stood, using the pipes across the roof to pull her into a standing position. Then reaching down she caught the hand he held to her, and she pulled him up to his feet. He stumbled into her at the action and she steadied him, trying not to let his weight push her over as well. When both their feet where steady she pulled his arm over her shoulders, accepting some of his weight, after all he was injured.

Then slowly she walked him back to the burrow as it had been affectionately named a long time ago for it's warren like entrance. Of course the safe house hardly represented a burrow.

She released him when they reached a couch, almost pushing him into it, then swept into the kitchen. Usagi scrambled about the cupboards angrily. She had things to help him, but she didn't have what she needed. After all if she took a wound, any wound large then a small bandage's worth, it would be fatal, so she had given up on caring. The small things she had, scissors, tweezers, small bandages, and pins. She even grabbed her one unchipped bowl, pouring in a cup of her precious clean water, and caught a towel before she returned to the room.

He was waiting, his shirt half off, pulled away from his aching shoulder. There was no fresh blood about the wound, which made her relax her worry about having to search for better medical equipment for the time being. Instead she put the small bowl on the table, crouching on the lounge to his right, staring at the wound.

"Now what have you been getting into?" She murmured and forgetting her resolve to treat him roughly began to clean the blood away from the wound.

"Just terrorising the neighbours." He replied wincing as the cloth brushed the wound.

"Oh quite moving, cry baby." Usagi snapped, she grabbed his shoulder in a mercilessly painful grip and held him still. He seemed to go white at the contact, she reminding herself that he was damaged and loosened her grip. "Besides, it looks like the neighbours where terrorising you."

"Isn't there someone here who wont try and help me by killing me?" He glared at her hand still on his shoulder so the point wasn't misunderstood. Usagi ignored him as she dabbed the cloth in the water and continued cleaning. She found her hands shaking as she tried to ignore the question and the silence that hung between them made him intensely aware of the emptiness of the house. "Like Rei maybe?" He said the words tentatively, and she didn't notice his eyes where fixed on her face reading every contorting emotion that rang over it.

She tried to hold back tears, remembering the time Rei hadn't come home. She had hoped Rei had just run away, it would have made it easier to have the hope that Rei was somewhere laughing at her.

Usagi turned sharply from Mamoru as the tears managed to push there way to the surface. She didn't want him to see it, and she almost despised him for bringing the memory's up again. She tired to say the words but her throat caught, perhaps somewhere inside she was still hanging onto pointless threads of hope, a repercussion of the dream which had begun shortly afterwards. It took her time to control herself, to push the tears back where she wanted them. And when she turned, she found he wasn't looking at her, his mind seeming to have fazed out of the room.

"What about the others?" He asked very carefully. She nearly broke down again. The others, five six, she couldn't even remember half their names. They had all gone.

"I…" She stumbled on her words as she turned back to him "I'll fix your shoulder." She continued firmly, trying to tell him without words that she could not tell him although she wanted to. And before he could ask if there was someone else to help, before he could reject her help or look at her with the pity she loathed she was fixing his shoulder. He let it pass, knowing far better then to pry. "It's deep." She whispered to herself when the wound was cleaned away. A bullet wound she guessed almost impressed, bullets where expensive, someone using one against him would mean he was up to worse then usual. "I'll…" She looked at his face for a moment, he was wide awake, maybe his expression was a little hazy, but there was little hope of him falling asleep soon. That was a shame, him being asleep would have made her job that little bit easier.

So instead picking up the tweezers in one hand and the scissors in the other she forced his body down against the couch pinning him down with her own weight.

"What are you..?" He tired to sit up seeing the tweezers, and the dark glint in her eyes. "Come on Usagi, there's nothing in there." He said it quickly, the girl had a tendency to go manic at times, or so he had always observed, and as cute as it had been all those other times he was finding himself the centre of her mechanisms, and any cuteness there might have been for a casual observer was being ignored by him.

"Oh yeah?" She demanded in a harsh voice. The tweezers hand snaked about his shoulder poking into the back of it. He realised too late he should have cried out and pretended to be in pain, at least then she would have removed herself. Though he had no objection to the position they where in, there was still those dangerous eyes to remember.

"Would you quite prodding my wounds?" He demanded through gritted teeth. She smacked him on the head with the flat of her palm.

"Don't be silly." She hissed leaning closer to him, making the danger all the more obvious. "If it wasn't still in there, there'd be a hole in your back." She hissed it, almost disappointed that he thought so little of her. Sharply, before he could respond she stuck the tweezers into the bullet hole. He shouted and tried to push her weight off him, but she was stronger then he remembered, even then they had never gotten into a physical fight, and she held him down with seemingly little effort.

_I must be weaker then I thought._ He told himself, feeling frustrated even over the sharp pain of the probing tweezers digging into his flesh. Of course he had collapsed in the tunnels, but then, he hadn't slept for the last two days, and sleep was one of the commodities he could not do without for many reasons.

"Slippery little things. Ah!" The tweezers wriggling stopped and he braced himself as she yanked her arm back. The sudden intensity of the pain threatened to make him faint, but some deity played a cruel joke on him and didn't give him the luxury of unconsciousness. Instead he shouted out a curse that resonated through the house.

He found her immediately pressed against him, surprising him, but not suppressing the pain. Her eyes where wide, and he realised she'd ducked away from the noise. She wasn't looking at him, her eyes where clenched shut, her fingers gripping at his skin and all the while hiding behind the lounges tall back. He waited in silence as she got herself back together, he didn't touch her, touching her when she was so far into that state could not only be deadly to him, but dangerous to her. She was more frail then he remembered, and stronger as well. Before she'd had Rei to protect her, and Rei had never minded the duty. He wanted to ask how long Rei had been gone, what had happened to her, but wondered if he really wanted to know.

"Serves you right for being shot." She snapped as if the moment hadn't occurred. She pressed her hands against his bare chest as she sat up, looking the same as she had the moment before. Evil. Though not really evil, because despite everything there was still too much innocence in her aura for her to be evil.

"Well excuse me!" He declared, though he used a tone they both knew would never travel through the entrance. She stood, leaving him alone in his pain. Then to his surprised shut a door he did not remember being there before. The house had never been enclosed.

"You got doors." He grimaced through his pain. His shoulder throbbed, and he wondered if there was still a chance of fainting. Sleep seemed beyond him, his body so pumped with adrenaline that it would probably allude him for another day or two. That was spiteful.

She returned to his side, sitting on the edge of the low table to look at his wound. It had begun bleeding again, which was hardly a surprise considering her ruff treatment to it. She dabbed a clean corner of the towel and began to clean the wound again. He cringed every time the cloth came near the wound and she ignored it. Her mood was returning to what it should have been, she wished she hadn't responded to his shout like that she hadn't been caught off guard in such a long time, but he had set her on edge with his surprising return.

"Where have you been?" She asked mockingly and began to twist the thin bandages around his arm. She would go out latter and find him better ones.

"Around." He replied vaguely, when she shot him a warning glare he grinned. "What? It's not like any of the places had names!" He threw his hands in the air and cringed automatically at the pull on his shoulder. "What have you been up to?" He gritted, his left hand covering the neatly bandaged shoulder.

"Nothing." She replied calmly, and stood, walking away from him. She suddenly realised what his presence was doing to her. He was breaking down her guards and she somehow knew he wasn't even trying. "I'm going out. You need to sleep, or rest if you can't get those eyes closed. You can use your room." She got half way to the door before he called out.

"Who's room is it now?"

"Mine." She replied reluctantly, her feet taking her closer to the exit.

"I'm not taking your room." He replied sharply, surprising the both of them. Usagi shook her head.

"It's the only spare room, I'll share with one of the others." She wondered if Alina would mind, but guessed she could scare the girl into accepting the deal. Before he could argue or even consider an argument she stormed out of the house closing the door behind her. Two steps and she felt herself collapse from exhaustion from their exchange. And it took an hour of silent crying to calm herself down entirely, all the while hoping no one came home and praying he didn't stick his head out the door.


End file.
